David McLeod, ‘Crown:Land:Crown’ (1992), University of Otago, Main Campus, Ōtepoti Dunedin

Image: Bronwyn Holloway-Smith, Public Art Heritage Aotearoa New Zealand, 2021

University of Otago

Sir Robert Aitken

Union St Bridge, Main Campus, University of Otago, North Dunedin, Ōtepoti Dunedin

Outside the St. David Lecture Theatre, Main Campus, University of Otago, North Dunedin, Ōtepoti Dunedin

Crown:Land:Crown

Sir Robert Stevenson Aitken was born in Wyndham and studied medicine at the University of Otago, graduating MB ChB in 1922. In 1924, he was awarded a Rhodes Scholarship, and went to study at Balliol College, Oxford, where he completed a DPhil in 1926. In 1929, Aitken married Margaret Kane, and the couple had three children.

Aitken served as Vice-Chancellor of the University of Otago, from 1948 to 1953, and of the University of Birmingham, from 1953 to 1968. His work was recognised with the Queen Elizabeth II Coronation Medal in 1953, and he was appointed a Knight Bachelor in the 1960 Queen's Birthday Honours.